Stay With Me
by SweeneyintheNight
Summary: Sybil Trelawney. A heartbroken Seer. But a look into her past reminds her on how she needs to learn to forgive and forget, for her and her daughter's sake. Severus SnapeSybil Trelawney story.


A/N: Okay, so this is yet ANOTHER Snape/Trelawney story. I know that some of you guys might be absolutely sick of these, and if you are, PLEASE do not comment. But if you love these Snape/Trelawney stories and want to give me some suggestions for further stories, I'd advise you to scroll down and give me a comment. Oh, and by the way, as usual, Snape isn't his normal self in this story.

"Mum?" I turned to see my daughter sitting at the wooden coffee table, holding a mug in her hands. I looked into her dark eyes and smiled. The black hair that was usually up in a ponytail was down, reaching to below her shoulder blades. She was exactly like her father except for her skin, which had more color, and her personality, thank Merlin.

"Yes?" I asked soothingly.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. Sweetie, why would you think that?"

"You're just not acting like yourself."

"Is that a bad thing?" She laughed. I loved it whenever she laughed It reminded me of when he laughed. He only laughed around me and, occasionally, his best friend. It reminded me of when he would hold my hand whenever we took a walk around the Black Lake. It reminded me of when he would kiss me with passion whenever I was upset with him. It reminded me of how he would comfort and hold me whenever I was upset. All from my child's laughter.

"I'm just really tired," I went on. "You know, with all of the students and that centaur. They wear me out to the bone."

"I know. You want me to make you some tea?"

"That would be lovely." As soon as she left the room, I let the tears that were stinging my eyes roll out. My daughter reminded me of her father. Too much of her father.

"We're going to miss you." I stood before my family, smiling at Tristan, my brother, Celine, my sister, and my father. I would be smiling at my mother as well, if only she was alive to see me leave for that school I teach at today. Mother was a witch, but she died long before Tristan, Celine, and I ever knew, so we pretty much lived like a muggle family, so going into a school full of witches and wizards scared me half to death. Tristan, who at the time was fourteen, was surprised when I got the letter, while Celine, who was seven, thought she was going to get the same letter when she turned eleven. My brother and sister were squibs, so they never got the letter announcing that they would be going to Hogwarts.

I hugged everyone, having tears soaking their clothes, looked at the train, then back at them. "I'm going to miss you all," I told them.

"We'll miss you too," my father replied.

"My friends won't believe me when I tell them that you're a witch," Celine said.

"Then you don't have to tell them," Tristan replied with a smile. I loved Tristan. He was not only my brother, but he was one of my closest friends. I could tell him things I could never tell anyone else. That's why I went to him when I got the letter from Hogwarts.

"We'd better get going," Father said. "Unless we want Sybil to be late. Give your father a big hug." I squeezed my father, them squeezed my little sister. "I'll meet you guys in the car," Tristan said. Father nodded, placed his hand on Celine's back, and guided her away. I hugged Tristan as tightly as I could.

"I'll watch after Dad and Celine," he said with comfort.

"Things haven't been the same," I said.

"I know. But things will get better. I promise." I let go, still looking into his eyes. He laughed. "Go!" he said. "You don't want to miss going to Hogwarts, do you?"

I smiled and gave him another hug. I ran into the train, running to the nearest empty compartment, and stuck my head out of the opened window. As the train moved, I saw Tristan chasing after it, screaming "I'll miss you." Hot tears ran down my face.

Auriga Sinistra was, and still is, my best friend. She came into my compartment after the train had departed, seeing that everywhere else was full, then we started to talk, then, out of nowhere, we became best friends. We weren't what you call social, the both of us were in Ravenclaw, and we both were fascinated by the stars. We would look out of the window in our dormitory and point out all of the stars that were familiar to us, even a few that weren't familiar. "If I ever have a child," Auriga used to tell me, "I will name her Aura."

"What if your child is a boy?" I would ask.

"It won't be. We always have girls in my family." Then we would laugh and start to gossip about whatever there was to gossip about at the time. Auriga and I never grew apart. Thirty-one years later and we're still best of friends.

"How fun will this be?" Auriga asked me during lunch one day. "You and I, in the same Divination and Astronomy classes!"

"Tons," I replied. "You can copy off of my Divination homework and I can copy off of your Astronomy homework."

"Not exactly what I meant."

"Oh well. You know that's one of the reasons why you're excited we're in those two same classes." Suddenly, an owl dropped a letter inside a red envelope and a red rose in front of me.

"Looks like somebody has a secret admirer," Auriga teased me.

"Shut up," I replied. I opened the red envelope and read the letter that was inside it. It read:

_Sybil,_

_You are beautiful_

_And I think I am in love with you_

_If you want to find out who I am_

_Meet me at the Black Lake at 8:00_

Auriga started to whistle. "Somebody has a secret admirer," she said.

"Do shut up," I replied.

"Who do you think it is?"

"I don't know."

"I think it's Sirius Black. He's been watching you during Divination."

"Sirius already has a girlfriend."

"Okay, what about James Potter?"

"He's got his eye on Lily Evans."

"Remus Lupin."

"Too shy."

"Like yourself?"

"I'm more outgoing than he is."

"Gildroy Lockhart?"

"Please. He's too wrapped up in himself."

"Peter Pettigrew?"

"DIGUSTING!"

"Well, there's two other choices. It's either somebody you don't know, or it's..." She paused, then started at the ground.

"Who is it?" I asked.

"It's probably just a silly mistake," she replied. "I could be wrong..."

"Auriga, if you don't tell me who this mystery man is right now..."

"It could possibly be Severus Snape!"

I didn't care if it was Severus or not, really. I actually had hopes it would either be him or Remus. I found something attractive about Severus. Of course, I was a hormonal teenager at the time, so it could have just been the hormones telling me that Severus Snape was good looking. Auriga helped me get ready.

She let me borrow her favorite skirt, a long, flowing brown one, as long as I returned it, and a white blouse. "Why a white blouse?" I asked. "And see-through, none the less."

"Who knows?" Auriga asked. "Maybe this mystery boy is a pure gentleman, or maybe he's a savage beast."

"I'll take my chances with the pure gentleman." She went with me to the Black Lake at around eight o'clock. She left when we reached the lake. I stood around, waiting for a little while. Finally, after waiting for half an hour, I got fed up, left the black lake, and stormed up to my dormitories, letting the tears ruin my makeup.

"Why would he stand you up?" Auriga asked me at breakfast the next day.

"I don't know," I replied.

"You know what I think? Whoever this boy was, he really missed out."

"You think so?"

"Do I think so? I know so! Look at you, you're pretty, you're smart, you're a great friend, what flaw could any person see in you?"

"That I'm a star-gazing freak?"

"Who told you that?"

"Sirius Black."

"You want me to talk to Black?"

"No! I mean...yes. I mean, I don't know." Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked around to see Severus. "Hello," I said silently.

"I need to talk to you," he said directly to me. "Come." I gave Auriga a weird look and followed Severus out of the Great Hall. He took me down the hall, looked around, the spun around and grabbed my wrists. "What's going on?" I asked him impatiently.

"I want to apologize," he replied.

"About what?"

"About what happened last night." I stared at him.

"How do you know what happened last night?"

"Because...well...I'm the one who gave you the note."

"So it was you that played the cruel joke on me."

"No, I didn't play a joke on you!"

"Then why didn't you show up last night?"

"I tried to, I really did. Lucius was nearly pushing me out of the door! But, I got...scared."

"Scared? Of what?"

"Of you rejecting me, that's what!"

"You were afraid that I was going to reject you?"

"Yes. You see, I really do think your beautiful and, well, I think I'm really falling in love with you. Sybil." At this point, he got down on one knee, like he was going to propose to me, and gave me a red flower. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

I smiled, got down on my knees, and replied, "I would be more than happy to." I took the rose from his hand. He pressed his lips against mine, stroking my face, making me feel warm. I had a feeling that someone was watching me. I gasped and nearly collapsed to the floor. Severus caught me, turned around, and gasped in surprise as well.

"Don't mind us," Auriga said, nearly laughing her head off.

"Do continue," Lucius agreed. Next thing I knew, Severus and I were chasing the two around the school, laughing nearly every step we took.

Since then, Severus and I spent nearly every moment together. We would take walks around the Black Lake almost every weekend, we would have a lot of inside jokes that Auriga and Lucius didn't understand, we would go almost everywhere with each other. Then, one day, the unexpected happened.

"Sybil," he said to me one day while we were walking around the Black Lake. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Ask away," I said with a smile. He took my hand and led me over underneath a tree. It was around nine at night on Saturday and we weren't supposed to be out that late. He sat down, then led me down to where I was sitting on his lap. He had a serious look on his face.

"Sweetie?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"How long have we been dating?" Severus asked, looking into my eyes.

"Since we were fourteen."

"And we've had a lot of firsts, haven't we?"

"I guess."

"I mean, you know, the first time we kissed, the first time we held hands in public, but there's still one first we haven't experienced yet."

"What's that?"

"Sweetie, I think we should...well, make love." I stared at him, then at the ground, the back at him. "Are you serious?" I asked him.

"I am indeed. Do you feel...uncomfortable about it?"

"Yes. I mean no. I don't know. Part of me wants to but...part of me is, well, afraid."

"I'm scared too. But I really think you're the one for me. I think that you're my soulmate. I want to be with you forever." I started to have tears streaming down my eyes. He cupped my chin and looked at me in the eyes. "It will be okay," he replied.

"I think I'm ready," I said.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Because if you're not..." I kissed him passionately. "I'm sure," I whispered. It was only five days before graduation from Hogwarts when we made love.

I had to leave for Paris when I was twenty-one. They gave me a teaching offering that I couldn't resist. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave him. But I had to. I'll never forget the day he said goodbye to me.

"I'm going to miss you," he said.

"I'm going to miss you too," I replied. I had already cried hard about having to leave Auriga, but I had no idea on how crazy I was going to get about leaving Severus. He smiled and handed me a box. I looked at him in confusion.

"Open it," he told me. When I did, I noticed a diamond necklace sitting inside the box. I looked at him, smiled, and kissed him. He smiled and kissed me back. Immediately, I put the necklace on and began to cry. He cupped his hand under my chin and kissed me on my cheek. I cried more.

"Don't cry," he whispered.

"I'll try and visit as much as possible," I replied.

"I know you will. I'll write to you every day."

"Promise?"

"Promise." With that, we said our goodbyes and I boarded on the train. As I looked out of the window when the train departed, Severus was chasing after the train. I could hear him shouting "I love you". I can still hear those words today.

I got pregnant a few weeks after I arrived in Paris. I told Severus in my letters that I couldn't visit him because the school wouldn't let me leave for holidays and summers, but the truth was that I didn't want him to know that I had his child. I never told him.

Suddenly, his letters got vaguer and vaguer, until one day, when I was eight-months pregnant, he stopped writing to me. I waited a week, no letter. Another week, still no letter. I would cry myself to sleep every night because of that. I thought it was because he could sense that something was wrong. He could always sense that something was wrong.

When I went into labor with my daughter, I was rushed to the nearest hospital. I began to cry when I saw my daughter. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She had a thick layer of black hair, dark eyes, and very pale skin. I named my child Aura.

"Mum?" I looked up to see Aura standing in front of me with a cup of tea in front of me. "Thank you sweetie," I said, taking the cup.

"Aunt Auriga's here," she said. "She wanted to talk to you." As Auriga entered the room, I got up and hugged her as tightly as I could. Aura, being used to Auriga's visits, left the room. Auriga sat down at the chair opposite of me.

"How have you been?" she asked.

"Okay," I replied. "No, horrible."

"I know, sweetie. It's tough, I know. I mean, after all..."

"The father of my child is a murderer."

"You know he didn't have a choice."

"I am aware of that, but at the same time, it feels like he did have a choice." Auriga placed her hand on mine. I looked up to see that she was giving me a reassuring smile. "It's going to be all right," she whispered.

"I just feel so awful," I kept on. "I mean, Aura, she never knew her father. I always told her she would be better off without him, but I can't convince myself that. It's funny, she never knew that her father was the potions master, but Severus had always been one of her favorite teachers. It's sad that I never told her that he was her father."

"It's not too late." I looked at Auriga. I guess I had a look of confusion, because she said, "Tell Aura that Severus was her father." I stared at the ground, then looked back at my friend.

"You're right," I replied. I quickly got up from the table and headed towards Aura's room, where she stayed whenever she would visit me. I knocked on the door. No answer. "Aura?" I called. Still no answer.

I could hear voices coming from the inside of the room. "Aura?" I asked again. The voices ceased. I already knew who was in the room. I opened the door and saw my daughter sitting on her bed. Sitting next to her was her father. "Mom..." she plead out.

"It's okay," I interrupted. He stood up. I was still staring at him. He started to smile. I smiled back. I hadn't seen him smile since the day I left for Paris. I felt his warm arms pull me into an embrace. I cried onto his shoulder. I could feel his face pressing into my shoulder blade. I could hear Auriga standing behind me.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Yeah," I replied. "I know." I could hear the door close behind me, so I knew that my daughter and my best friend had left the room. I broke the embrace and looked in his eyes. He looked weary, like he grew old, despite the fact that it had only been a year ago since he killed Dumbedore and a few months since Harry Potter killed Voldemort. But it had seemed that a century had passed Severus.

"You look beautiful," he told me.

"I wish I could say the same about you," I replied. He smiled. "How long has it been?" he asked.

"A year," I replied.

"So...I have a daughter. Well, this is news."

"I'm sorry."

"I understand. I would have done the same exact thing if I was in your place. I wouldn't trust myself with the responsibility of raising a child."

"It wasn't if you were responsible enough or not. It was just that, well, I thought you grew tired of me."

"Grew tired of you? Why would you think that?"

"Well, when I was in Paris, in your letters, you became vaguer and vaguer until you stopped writing."

"No, I didn't grow tired of you. Far from. I was trying to protect you."

"Protect me? From what?"

"I'm a Death Eater."

"You don't have to remind me."

"I didn't want Voldemort to find out and for you to get hurt. And when you knew the prophecy, well, that just made things worse."

"You could have at least told me."

"I couldn't. Voldemort watched over every single move every one of his Death Earters made. If he had found out I was trying to protect you...I don't know what would happen." I started to feel the tears rolling down my cheeks, although I was unaware that I was crying. He pulle me into another embrace. "The Order knows where I am," he whispered in my ear.

"What?" I whispered back. He interrupted me, kissing me with passion and violence. "I love you," he whispered in my ear. Then, just like that, he was gone.

I stood, watching Severus entering the room. Tears started to run down my eyes. As he passed by me, he reached out and squeezed my hand. He smiled and mouthed, "Everything's going to be okay."

Aura shot out her hand, squeezing it as tight as she could. I couldn't blame her. The men escorting Severus set him up on a wooden platform, placing him on top of a trap door. They put the loop from the rope around his neck.

I might have been imagining, or maybe I was just delusional from what I was experiencing, but I swear I saw him smile and have a little twinkle in his eye. The officer began to talk, but I was so weak, the only words coming out of his mouth sounded like a foreign language. Finally, I heard him say something I recognized. "Do you have any last words?"

Severus turned to Aura and I. "I do," he replied. "I'm sorry. Aura, you're my daughter, and even though I have never met you, I love you. Sybil, you are the most precious thing in this world. I love you."

The tears started to pour out of my eyes. I didn't know if words even came out of my mouth, but I am sure he would have managed to understand me. "I love you too," I said. Suddenly, everything was a blur. A snap. Gasps for air. My daughter screaming. Another snap. I screamed, throwing myself onto her body.

"Severus?" I was asking hysterically. "Sev? Sevvie? Come on, Sev. It's time to wake up. Wake up. Wake up!"

"Mum!" I heard Aura scream.

"Wake up." My voice started to crack. "Wake up."

"Mum..."

"Wake up."

"Daddy..."

"He's gone. He's really, really gone. No. Severus, don't leave. Don't leave." I remember that the officer had to pry me from his body, my daughter chasing after me. As soon and he took me outside, I ran. But I was so weak, I fell face flat to the ground. I started to cry.

"Mum?" My daughter had placed her hands on my back. I knew that she was going through the same pain. "Come on," she whispered to me. "Let's go home."

I stood atop of the castle, staring down at the grounds. I felt the wind splashing through my face. I was looking down onto the ground again. I looked around, watching the students laughing, joking with each other.

They seemed so happy. I wanted that life. But I couldn't. My daughter moved to Ireland, so I could see her even less than I already have. My love was dead. I needed a happy life. But I couldn't. I walked closer to the edge, making sure that noone was around that area.

Suddenly, I heard a scream. But it wasn't mine. I looked at the grounds, seeing a girl laying lifeless on the grass. Her arms and legs had snapped. A pool of love was circled around her head. "She jumped!" I heard a girl scream.

I realized that I didn't want to die. At least not at that time. I stared at the lifeless body. I didn't want to be like that girl. I stepped away from the edge and ran down, trying to calm down the crowd.


End file.
